Pepperstone Review 2018

What you need to know Pepperstone offers diverse hour contact and support options, including in-person support at local offices. Besides MetaTrader platforms, Pepperstone offers the suite of platforms from Spotware Systems, including the cTrader and cAlgo platforms, which support automated trading. Equinix Financial eXchange offers access to a network of execution venues, including banking and hedge fund servers.

Choosing the Best Forex Brokerage

IG placed first with 15, tradeable instruments available including 95 forex pairs and boasts the most regulatory licenses, including from top-tier jurisdictions such as the US, UK, and Switzerland, among others. Saxo Bank held second with 9, CFDs available and currency pairs, including off-exchange forex options trading supported on key major pairs and crosses.

Swissquote bank followed with top-tier licenses, and although the broker only lists 38 CFDs alongside 78 forex pairs, in a separate trading platform, which requires a different account, it offers nearly two million tradeable products.

Almost every forex broker aims to provide its clients with research content and tools to find and analyze investment opportunities. At the same time, we are living in the digital information age where traders can get lost in the sea of forex news headlines, making it hard to get the information they need unless brokers provide the right structure for forex research. Beyond news headlines and an economic calendar, leading forex brokers usually integrate in-house research for fundamental news and technical analysis, then couple it with outsourced research content.

Firms that take it a step further may even create their own TV channel, for example, to stream video updates instead of providing basic daily or weekly video updates. Furthermore, daily or weekly market recaps, live trading rooms, and integrated pattern- recognition tools for news events and charts, as well as screeners, heat maps, and sentiment indicators are increasingly integrated as research tools available within trading platforms. Saxo Bank deserves its top spot for research in , as it delivers on all fronts for forex research from both its website and within its trading platforms.

For conducting forex research in , Saxo Bank held its first place position as the best broker in this category. While many brokers struggle to organize research for their customers, Saxo Bank does a fantastic job centralizing the research it provides across its platform suite, within its recently redesigned website, and on its Trading Floor offering.

Saxo Bank incorporates a social network where traders share commentary about markets on Trading Floor and provides access to in-house and outsourced research reports, including pattern-recognition tools. IG took second place for research, with a broad range of tools available through its web platform. The broker offers its own streaming video, IG TV, along with a vast array of daily blog updates and detailed posts from a team of global analysts. In third place is Dukascopy Bank which also held its position year-over-year.

No broker puts out more content than Dukascopy thanks to its in-house, out-sourced, and community-sourced research and news content. The Swiss bank and brokerage incorporates an extensive amount of research-related content within its website and trading platforms, along with a fully staffed professional TV studio that powers Dukascopy TV.

To round out its offering, Dukascopy provides many social elements within its community to engage traders with important market content and related analysis tools, as well as even competition incentives beyond the typical deposit bonus.

While nearly all forex brokers have offered mobile apps for years, the competition continues to increase as clients demand many of the same features in mobile that are normally found on desktop and web platforms. The global use of mobile devices to access online services, ranging from email to social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, has continued to grow exponentially in recent years.

To determine the best forex brokers for mobile trading in we focused on identifying mobile experiences that were bug-free, cleanly designed, and provided a wide range of features. First place goes to Dukascopy Bank, whose SWFX Trader app comes with more research and pattern recognition tools than any other broker we reviewed. The app also includes an impressive array of charting capabilities, complex order types, and other advanced features such as depth of book, all packed into a clean user design.

SaxoTrader GO is highly responsive and provides traders a unified experience with its web-based platform, offering unique features such as syncing trend lines, indicators, and watch lists. Advanced order visualizations, syncing watch lists, and charts that support over indicators are just a sampling of the functionality available to clients.

Meanwhile, IG took fourth place for its mobile app which integrates pattern recognition and comes with robust charting that stays neatly organized even when loaded with numerous concurrent indicators.

CMC Markets followed in fifth place as its mobile app offers unique features such as the ability to subscribe to future news events. Charting in the app comes packed with technical indicators and drawing tools available in landscape mode.

Both brokers boast robust mobile offerings that will impress the vast majority of fx traders. When using a forex broker, a single customer service experience is not enough to assess the all-round quality and scope of service. Instead, multiple phone calls, emails, and live chat interactions should be conducted to determine an overall rating of customer service.

For our assessment of 43 international forex brokers, phone calls were made to offices across the globe. Brokers who did not offer any phone support were penalized, with email and live chat being used as an alternative testing method. TD Ameritrade really stood out among the 43 brokers reviewed, as the firms staff were resourceful and always highly eager to make the customer interaction positive.

Among the top five, TD Ameritrade took first place. London Capital Group proved its ability to provide world-class customer service as representatives were attentive and provided detailed and informative responses. Connection times averaged less than one minute per call, a quality that we ended up experiencing for most of the top finishers. XTB also consistently delivered on its around-the-clock service, and ADS Securities provided tailored support for us as a dedicated customer service representative is assigned to each customer for calls made during regular market hours.

This shows just how tight the competition is among top-rated forex brokers in providing quality customer service. Providing forex traders with effective educational resources is important.

Put simply, educated investors make more intelligent investment decisions. The following table summarizes the different investment products available to Pepperstone clients.

Pepperstone offers two pricing models depending on the account type you open, ranging from the commission-based Razor Account to the Standard Account, which incorporates commissions into the prevailing spreads. Fees can also vary slightly, depending on the platform you choose to trade. Pepperstone offers a good range of options on its pricing plan, with the Razor Account the clear choice for cost-sensitive traders. The Razor Account can be used with either the MetaTrader MT4 or cTrader platforms and follows a commission-based pricing structure in addition to prevailing spreads.

Average spreads of 0. Meanwhile, the Standard Account is based on commission-free pricing and is not as competitive, as spreads are inherently wider. For our Forex Review, customer service phone tests were conducted over three months.

The data collected is institutional grade. On average, three questions were asked for each test. To score each test, the tests were divided into three separate groups and scores were given for the time taken to connect with each support representative and the ability of each representative to professionally and thoroughly answer each question. A Net Promoter Score was also given for the overall experience. Pepperstone offers AutoChartist to live account holders, providing automated pattern recognition and trading signals.

When it comes to fundamental and technical analysis content from third-party analysts and an economic calendar that shows consensus forecasts powered by Myfxbook. To learn more about MT4, read our Metatrader guide.

After registering for a Razor Account at Pepperstone, accessing the desktop and web version of MetaTrader 4 MT4 comes pretty standard, with minimal configuration changes made from each broker, even though pricing, execution and reporting tools can vary significantly. Pepperstone uses its EDGE infrastructure to help bridge the MetaTrader platform with liquidity providers to whom it routes your order for execution, while incorporating its Pepperstone Price Improvement PPI technology to help improve execution rates.

This is a highly proactive approach for an agency broker. Besides the desktop version, MT4 web is a lighter version of the platform made for web browsers, and comes with nearly the same number of indicators and drawing tools as the native desktop version, making it a viable option for the desktop version when you need access to MT4 charts.

Besides MetaTrader platforms, Pepperstone offers the suite of platforms from Spotware Systems, including the cTrader and cAlgo platforms, which support automated trading. The Razor and Standard accounts can be used with both platforms at Pepperstone, helping to unify account offerings across its products.

Moving to the cTrader platform, traders at Pepperstone can login to the web version or download the desktop version for Windows. To learn more about Spotware Systems, read our cTrader guide. For algorithmic trading, cAlgo can be used as a standalone platform that can be linked with a cTrader account and comes standard from the developer.

It would be ideal if both modules were combined into a single platform, as those who need the automated trading capabilities must install both cTrader and cAlgo. You should fully understand the risks and seek independent professional advice before deciding whether to start CFD trading, including about the new regulations. Licensees must meet strict capital requirements and comply with internal procedures, including risk management, staff training, accounting, and audits.

Pepperstone-customer funds are held in segregated accounts. Australia has no direct security-insurance requirements but requires broker-dealers to meet strict capital-requirement and risk-management controls while following a set of auditable procedures. Equinix Financial eXchange offers access to a network of execution venues, including banking and hedge fund servers.

The broker offers a broad selection of special features, including low-latency infrastructure, an expert-driven educational website, tutorial library, and historical tick data.

Customers can choose from a wide variety of PC and mobile trading platforms, including industry-standard MetaTrader. A specialized Islamic account features compliance with Sharia law. Pepperstone offers MetaTrader 4 and 5, along with a web-based trading platform and cTrader, which features extensive back-testing functionality and algorithmic trading support.

Industry-standard MetaTrader supports customizable watchlists, advanced order entry, alerts, research, and news in a high-contrast desktop platform that allows trades to be placed directly on charts.

Predefined time frames limit analysis, and chart windows can't be detached for placement outside the platforms. Users can't adjust or replace drawing tools trendlines, Fibonacci retracements, and more by default once they're applied. Object anchors can be difficult to see and manipulate, even on large screens. Full-featured mobile apps are available for iOS, Android, and tablets. Apps come in two formats, one for industry-standard MetaTrader and a second for cTrader, Pepperstone's new high-end trading platform.

The easy-to-read quotes screen and contextual menu support one- or two-click trade execution. The quotes screen also has both simple and advanced modes, which adds flexibility.

A tick chart integrated with the trade-execution screen improves the visual experience in fast-moving markets. Deviation bands can be placed on both bid and ask sides to improve risk management and slippage control. Surprisingly robust charting includes a wide variety of indicators, settings, and views. The performance screen offers easy access to balance, margin, and equity in real time.

Pepperstone's mobile apps lack customized watchlists, and users can't set alerts. The news screen doesn't support advanced filtering or organization, and ticker-specific news can't be accessed from the quotes screen. The history screen doesn't display open positions, and the trade screen lacks sophisticated order types, including trailing stops.

Settings don't support basic security features, including automatic timeout or secondary token, although one-time passwords can be used. Plus, there's no way to access account history through the mobile application. The diverse knowledge base and support resources can address most inquiries and trade issues. Live support through chat and phone as well as in person exceed industry benchmarks. Comprehensive FAQs cover major account issues.